If you thought that anything like “Jeez, how much longer are they gonna keep buying this?” would ever creep into the minds of those writing the script, let alone the likes of Dwight Howard, you’d be wrong. The people who are still on board are obviously on board for the duration. For the rest of us, the time to get off the ride is now.

The NBA is hemorrhaging credibility by the day. The day when it ceases to become a viable competitive sports enterprise may have already passed. The “deal” orchestrated to get the latest Superhero to the latest Dream Team was as convoluted as it was inevitable. Whatever was the point of the labor dispute that cancelled the first third of the season last year, it certainly wasn’t the plight of the Milwaukee Bucks or New Orleans Hornets fan — assuming there were any of those left even then.

Before this decade is out, look for the league to consolidate into a single traveling exhibition squad, to be known as “The Los Angeles Lakers Featuring Lebron James”. Perhaps one of the logos of a current NBA “small-market” team (the Sacramento Kings come to mind) could be salvaged to act as the Lakers’ patsies — the Washington Generals to the Lakers’ Globetrotters.